Henderson: UMass to Sydney
Daily Hampshire Gazette

Danielle Henderson, shown here, pitches in May at UMass. Henderson's pitches have reaches speeds up to 65 miles per hour. She is now on Team USA, headed to Sydney, with her long-time idol, Lisa Fernandez, as a teammate. GORDON DANIELS photo

WORCESTER, MA - Danielle Henderson used to watch Lisa Fernandez from afar.

As a young softball player growing up, Henderson idolized the four-time All-American at UCLA who is widely considered one of the greatest players ever to lace up cleats.

When Henderson was starting college in 1995 at the University of Massachusetts, Fernandez was preparing to help the United States win the first-ever gold medal in softball at the Atlanta Olympics.

Now Henderson admires Fernandez from close range - on the field, in the locker room, on the bus, and maybe, just overt wo months from now, on a medal stand.

Henderson, a 1999 graduate of UMass, is now a member of Team USA as well, and her former idol is now a teammate.

"It's been a great learning experience. Every day I sit here and watch her compete. It's a dream come true," Henderson said. "She's a tough competitor. She goes out there and plays hard every day. She's very intense and focused. You can learn a lot just by watching her. Just talking with players you learn stuff every day, seeing how they just go at every batter and have a presence out on the mound."

The national team is currently in the midst of a pre-Olympic tour in the hopes of having the team peak when it arrives in Sydney in September. The Olympics begin Sept. 13. The tour stopped at Worcester State College on Sunday.

"It's a lot of traveling. It's non-stop," Henderson said sighing. "It's on the go constantly. It's very tiring, carrying those bags."

The games themselves have been pretty easy. Their opponents have been mostly
club teams or hastily thrown together squads of current or former college players, with a few tilts against teams from the Professional Fast Pitch League.

In fact, the first of two Worcester-based teams that Team USA played Sunday
featured only four players that had Division I college experience, while most of the players had lines like Clark or Worcester State on their resume.

Still, despite the weaker competition, Henderson said there is incentive every time she pulls on her Team USA jersey.

"Your motivation is that you're getting ready for the Olympics," Henderson said. "You can't get more motivation than that."

Before the game, each player waved to the crowd as they were introduced. Then the Olympic anthem, followed by the Star Spangled Banner, emerged from Worcester State's public address system.

Wearing red shorts and a red jersey with blue sleeves and the letters 'U-S-A' in white, Henderson admitted that hearing the national anthem still gives her goose bumps.

"It does. I don't think that it will stop," Henderson said smiling. "Every time I hear the national anthem before the game, I think about what it's going to be like in Sydney and what it's going to be like on the medal stand."

UMass coach Elaine Sortino flew in from a recruiting trip to see her former player and current assistant coach in Worcester.

"I don't think anything could make me prouder in my lifetime," Sortino said. "It's a dream for every kid with great aspirations and talent. To see that come to reality for an individual is a wonderful thing."

So wonderful that Sortino will be Down Under to witness it first hand.

"It's a very expensive proposition to go there. I'd rather not go on vacation for 10 years than miss it," she said.

While on the field, Team USA has been dominant, winning all 28 of its barnstorming games while only giving up one run (surrendered by Henderson). But off the field, there has been some uncertainty.

Last September after an Olympic tryout camp in Midland, Mich., the roster and
alternates for the 2000 Olympic Team were announced with the team planning to head out on a preparation tour that would start in Europe, then return to the U.S.

But a series of appeals from players that didn't make the team challenged the validity of the selection process, and has resulted in the roster being named and vacated twice. The players are currently waiting for the team to be named again.

People close to the situation have predicted that the roster will remain unchanged, although some alternates could be switched. Henderson is still expecting to be on the roster in September, but admits the elongated selection process has been distracting off the field.

"It's not fair, but it's not something that we carry out there with us," she said, adding that it has made the team bond together. "It has made us a stronger team. We're not going to let anything happen to this team."

Henderson, who is part of a five-person pitching rotation, is trying to hone her pitching.

"I always just threw my riseball. Now my other pitches have gotten better, but my riseball isn't where I want it to be," she said. "I've focused so much on learning other pitches."

Team USA coach Ralph Raymond has been coaching internationally since Henderson was a toddler. While he's been impressed with her pitching improvement, he hasn't gotten used to her nickname "Harry" yet.

"Danny has come a long way but still has a little bit to go. We're working on a couple pitches for her," said Raymond, a native of Worcester. "She needs a change-up. If she can develop that change, that will make her rise and her drop better."

Raymond said that even in Sydney he will stick to his current pitching plans, meaning that barring injury Henderson will pitch in the Olympics.

"I'll stay with a rotation," Raymond said. "Five pitchers. We'll stay with it for a couple of reasons. No. 1: Morale will stay high. No. 2: each one will be well rested between starts."

Rest will be a luxury reserved for Sydney though. On their current travel schedule the entire team looks a little haggard. Prior to games, the team often conducts clinics and stays afterward to sign autographs for anyone who wants one before getting on the bus or heading to the airport for a portion of the journey with more legs than a centipede.

In Worcester, Henderson signed everything from programs to T-shirts to softballs while talking to kids in line.

"Nice hat," she said to an adolescent boy wearing a maroon UMass cap.

Out of Henderson's earshot, one girl spoke indignantly to a boy that could have been her brother.

"She could so strike you out," the girl stated firmly.

Another girl, after informing Henderson that she was 12 and plays third base, asked the tall pitcher what it takes to play softball for Team USA.

"Well you have to practice hard and go to college first," Henderson told the girl who had just handed her a trading card to sign with her picture on it.

"Danielle Henderson, No. 4" she signed with her black marker.

The signature barely changes each time she John-Hancocks an item. She's had plenty of practice signing stuff for the wide-eyed kids that look at her with adoration, much the same way she might have stared at Fernandez years ago.